Sharing on Facebook seems harmless. But leaked documents show how it may help spread misinformation.


While Facebook had publicized its efforts countering extremism and misinformation related to the 2020 U.S. elections and the Jan. 6 insurrection, it failed to adequately account for its role in the spread of misinformation. Current Ph.D. student and co-founder of Cybersecurity for Democracy and a member of the NYU Center for Cybersecurity Laura Edelson said that "one thing that we have seen consistently, not just in these documents but in other reports about actions that Facebook has taken, is that Facebook is not willing to sacrifice its business goals to improve the quality of content on its system and achieve integrity goals."